Spatial light modulator and directional display

Abstract: A spatial light modulator 1 of the LCD type comprises picture elements 20, 21 arranged as rows extending horizontally and columns extending vertically. The picture elements are arranged in groups such that the picture elements of each group are substantially contiguous with each other in the horizontal direction. It is thus possible to provide continuous horizontal parallax of the 2D views and an increased number of such 2D views, for instance by converting to directional information by means of a lenticular screen 6.

Description: The present invention relates to a spatial light modulator and to a directional display. Such a display may be used to provide three dimensional (3D) displays. EP-A-0 387 033 and EP-A-0 400 992 disclose frame thinning out systems in which the pixels of a display are grouped into multiple groups, each of which is composed of a plurality of pixels which are contiguous to each other. The number of pixels which are turned on in a frame time period within an integration period is selected in accordance with gradation data. The frame period during which the number of pixels turned on is kept constant is set sufficiently short so as to not cause flicker. A known 3D display comprises a lenticular screen disposed on the surface of a thin film transistor twisted nematic liquid crystal display. The pitch of the lenticular screen is substantially equal to an integer multiple of the horizontal pitch of the picture elements (pixels) of the liquid crystal display. The pixels are arranged in rows and columns and the display is addressed so that each vertical row of pixels behind respective lenticules of the lenticular screen contains information representing a two dimensional (2D) view of an object. The lenticular screen allows each of the 2D views to be replayed in the appropriate direction so as to give the appearance of a 3D image. Known types of liquid crystal display (LCD) have a number of disadvantages which degrade the quality of a 3D image produced in this way. Firstly, the resolution of thin film transistor twisted nematic LCDs is limited by the thin film transistor response, by the addressing schemes, and by low production yields. This results in a limitation in the number of views which can be obtained while maintaining an adequate horizontal resolution in each of the 2D images. Secondly, the use of thin film transistors at each pixel requires the use of a black mask which prevents light from passing through the transistors. The black mask extends between adjacent columns of pixels and is imaged by the lenticular screen to give a region of no information in the image between adjacent 2D views. Thus, the output of the 3D display does not have continuous parallax. The use of a lenticular screen comprising elongate cylindrically converging lenticules results in information in one direction only i.e. horizontally, being decoded as directional information. The horizontal resolution of the LCD dictates the number of 2D views which can be displayed. However, in general, the horizontal and vertical pixel resolutions of LCDs are substantially equal so that, for a display of the type providing four 2D views, the horizontal resolution of display is one quarter of the vertical resolution. JP 59009636 discloses a liquid crystal display comprising pixels arranged in rows and columns and defined by an opaque mask. The left hand edges of the pixels of each column are aligned with each other as are the right hand edges. The pixels of each column are staggered in the direction of the columns with respect to the pixels in each adjacent column but overlap with each other in the column direction. However, the black mask extends between adjacent columns of pixels. Thus, if such an LCD were used in an autostereoscopic display, such a display would not have continuous parallax as described hereinafter with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings. According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a spatial light modulator as defined in the appended Claim 1. According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a directional display including a modulator in accordance with the first aspect of the invention. Preferred embodiments of the invention are defined in the other appended claims. It is thus possible to provide a pixel structure in a spatial light modulator and in a directional display, such as a 3D display, which allows both horizontal and vertical information to be decoded as directional information with continuous parallax between the 2D views. This can be achieved using resolutions of pixels available with existing modulators and displays. It is also possible to make use of both vertical and horizontal resolution to increase the number of views which can be displayed. The invention will be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic front view of a known type of 3D display making use of a LCD; Figure 2 is a plan view illustrating operation of the display of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic front view of a 3D display including a LCD constituting a first embodiment of the invention; Figure 4 is a plan view illustrating operation of the display of Figure 3; Figure 5 is a diagrammatic cross sectional view of a 3D display constituting a second embodiment of the invention; Figures 6 to 8 are views similar to Figure 5 of modified embodiments of the inventions; Figure 9 is a diagrammatic front view of a 3D display incorporating a LCD constituting a third embodiment of the invention; Figure 10 is a diagrammatic front view of a 3D display incorporating a LCD constituting a fourth embodiment of the invention; Figure 11 is a diagrammatic plan view of a 3D display constituting a fifth embodiment of the invention; Figure 12 is a diagrammatic front view of a 3D display constituting a further embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 13 is a plan view illustrating operation of the display of Figure 12. Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts. The known type of LCD shown in Figure 1 comprises a plurality of pixels arranged as rows and columns in a regular pattern or array. The LCD 1 provides a colour display and comprises composite colour pixels composed of red pixels 2, blue pixels 3, and green pixels 4. The LCD 1 is of the thin film transistor twisted nematic type and the pixels are separated from each other by a black mask 5. Thus, each column of pixels is separated from each adjacent column by a continuous vertical opaque strip of the black mask 5, which prevents light from passing through the thin film transistors of the LCD 1. In order to provide a 3D display, a lenticular screen 6 is disposed in front of the pixels of the LCD 1. The lenticular screen 6 comprises a plurality of vertically extending lenticules, each of which is optically cylindrically converging. The lenticules extend vertically and may be formed, for instance, as plano-convex cylindrical lenses or as graded refractive index (GRIN) cylindrical lenses. Each lenticule is disposed above a plurality of columns of pixels (four columns as shown in Figure 1) and each column of pixels provides a vertical slice of a 2D view. The shape of each pixel is rectangular with a small rectangular extension projecting from the right side of each pixel. As illustrated in Figure 2, when the 3D display is suitably illuminated from behind and image data are supplied to the pixels of the LCD 1 such that each column of pixels displays a thin vertical slice of a 2D image, each lenticule of the screen 6 provides output light beams 7 to 10 from the respective four columns of pixels associated with the lenticule. The directions in which the light beams 7 to 10 extend correspond to the directions from which the respective 2D views were recorded during image capture. When viewed by an observer whose eyes receive adjacent ones of the light beams 7 to 10, a 3D image is perceived. However, the vertical portions of the black mask 5 between the columns of pixels are also imaged in the directions indicated at 11 to 15. Further, the light beams 7 to 10 contain regions such as 16 to 18 of reduced brightness corresponding to imaging of the rectangular protrusions extending from the main pixel regions. Thus, the output of the display does not have continuous parallax. The 3D display shown in Figure 3 comprises a LCD 1 and a lenticular screen 6. The LCD 1 differs from that shown in Figure 1 in that the pixels are arranged in a different pattern of horizontal rows and vertical columns. In particular, the LCD comprises composite colour pixels 20, 21 each composed of a red pixel 2 a blue pixel 3 and a green pixel 4. The pixels are arranged such that they are contiguous in the horizontal direction. In other words, there are no continuous vertical black mask portions separating the pixels. To achieve this, each composite pixel 20 in a first row is spaced vertically from a horizontally adjacent composite pixel 21 in a second row but the right hand edge of the composite pixel 20 lies on the same vertical line as the left hand edge of the composite pixel 21. Thus, compared with Figure 1, the number of columns of pixels imaged by each lenticule of the screen 6 has been doubled to 8 whereas the vertical resolution of the LCD 1 has effectively been halved. As shown in Figure 4, each lenticule of the screen 6 supplies eight output light beams 22 to 29 which are angularly contiguous with each other and which represent eight different 2D views with continuous horizontal parallax. Thus, "black" regions such as 11 and "grey" regions such as 16 in Figure 2 are eliminated and an observer can perceive a 3D image of substantially constant intensity and without image gaps. Further, the number of 2D views for the or each 3D image frame is doubled by halving the vertical resolution. The advantages are achieved by the display of Figure 3 at the cost of reduced light throughput because of the increased area of the black mask 5 compared with the display of Figure 1, the 2D views being made up of alternate lines with a black line between, and loss of vertical resolution. However, for many applications, the advantages far outway the costs and allow an improved 3D display to be obtained. Figure 5 illustrates that the LCD 1 and lenticular screen 6 shown in Figure 3 may be used in a "hybrid sandwich" arrangement 30 of the type disclosed in British Patent Application No.9210399.3. In addition to the LCD 1 and the screen 6, the hybrid sandwich 30 comprises a diffuser 31 and an "input" lenticular screen 32 which is similar to the screen 6 but whose lenticular pitch is substantially equal to the pitch of the columns of pixels of the LCD 1. The hybrid sandwich 30 is illuminated by means of a plurality of sequentially illuminatable light sources 33 (two light sources shown in the drawing) and a correction lens 34. Operation of this 3D display is described in the above mentioned British patent application, to which attention is directed. Figure 6 illustrates a modified form of the 3D display of Figure 5 in which the input lenticular screen 32 is replaced by a parallax barrier 35 having a plurality of vertical slits corresponding to and having the same pitch as the lenticules of the screen 32. Figure 7 illustrates a display which differs from that shown in Figure 5 in that the output lenticular screen 6 is replaced by an output parallax barrier 36 having a plurality of vertical slits corresponding to and with the same spacing as the lenticules of the screen 6. Figure 8 illustrates a further modified embodiment which differs from that shown in Figure 5 in that the lenticular screen 6 is replaced by the parallax barrier 36 of Figure 7 and the lenticular screen 32 is replaced by the parallax barrier 35 of Figure 6. Figure 9 illustrates a 3D display in which the LCD 1 differs from that of Figure 3 in that the individual differently coloured pixels 2, 3, and 4 are arranged as shown. Thus, by mixing two adjacent view colour pixels, the effect of the black line between alternate lines of each 2D view as mentioned hereinbefore is substantially reduced to give more "mixing" between the adjacent rows of pixels. Figure 10 illustrates a 3D display which differs from that shown in Figure 3 in that the number of 2D views is increased by a factor of 3 compared with the type of display shown in Figure 1. This is achieved at the cost of vertical resolution, which becomes a third of that of the display of Figure 1. As in the displays of Figures 3 and 9, the pixels are arranged such that there are no continuous vertical columns of the black mask 5. Thus, the display of Figure 10 provides continuous horizontal parallax for twelve 2D views making up a complete 3D image or frame. Figure 11 illustrates another type of 3D display which uses a LCD 1 of the type shown in Figure 3, Figure 9, or Figure 10. The display comprises a light source 40 which illuminates the LCD 1 via a condenser lens 41. A projection lens 42 projects images of the pixels onto a diffuser 43 in front of which is disposed a lenticular screen 44 of the same type as the screen 6 but with a lenticular pitch which is increased in proportion to the ratio of the horizontal pitches of the pixel images at the diffuser 43 and the pixels of the LCD 1. Thus, the 3D display of Figure 11 provides continuous horizontal parallax and an increased number of 2D views in return for reduced vertical resolution. Figure 12 illustrates a 3D display which is similar to the display illustrated in Figure 3 but in which gaps separate each group of composite pixels 20, 21 (associated with a respective lenticule) of the LCD from the or each adjacent group of composite pixels. This arrangement results in gaps occurring at the edges of the viewing lobes, i.e. lobes 22a and 29a, as shown in Figure 13. Such an arrangement may improve the ease of visibility of the 3D image. It is thus possible to provide a LCD and a 3D display in which the loss of image as an observer moves laterally with respect to the display, caused by areas of grey and black in the display output, can be eliminated or substantially reduced. Vertical resolution can be sacrificed in order to provide increased numbers of 20 views so as to improve the quality of the 3D image provided by the display. Displays of this type may be used for 3D television, 3D computer aided design and graphics, 3D medical imaging, virtual reality, and computer games. Further, such displays may be used to provide directional information display other than 3D image information.

Claims: A spatial light modulator comprising a plurality of picture elements (2, 3, 4) arranged as rows extending in a first direction and columns extending in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction, the picture elements (2, 3, 4) of one column being staggered in said second direction with respect to the picture elements (2, 3, 4) of an adjacent column, and an opaque mask (5) masking conductors and/or drive devices within the spatial light modulator and surrounding each picture element (2, 3, 4), wherein the picture elements (2, 3, 4) in each column have edges which are substantially aligned in the second direction, characterised in that the columns are arranged as N adjacent columns where N is an integer greater than one and in that the aligned edges in adjacent columns of the same group are substantially aligned with each other in the second direction by arranging the picture elements (2, 3, 4) of said same group such that the right hand edges of the picture elements (2, 3, 4) in a column lie on the same line extending in said second direction as the left hand edges of the picture elements (2, 3, 4) in an adjacent column of said same group. A spatial light modulator as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that each of the picture elements (2, 3, 4) has the shape of a parallelogram with a first pair of parallel sides extending in the first direction and a second pair of parallel sides extending in the second direction. A spatial light modulator as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterised in that adjacent ones of the picture elements (2, 3, 4) in the or each adjacent pair of columns of each group are disposed in adjacent rows. A spatial light modulator as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the picture elements (2, 3, 4) are arranged as sets (20, 21) of adjacent differently coloured picture elements (2, 3, 4) in each column and the sets (20, 21) of one column are staggered in the second direction with respect to the sets (20-21) of an adjacent column of the same group. A spatial light modulator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the groups of columns are substantially contiguous with each other in the first direction. A spatial light modulator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised by comprising a liquid crystal device. A spatial light modulator as claimed in claim 6, characterised in that the liquid crystal device is a thin film transistor twisted nematic type display. A directional display characterised by including a modulator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims. A display as claimed in claim 8, characterised by comprising a first lenticular screen (6) having a plurality of elongate cylindrically converging lenses which extend in the second direction and each of which is aligned with a respective group of N columns of said picture elements (2, 3, 4). A display as claimed in claim 8, characterised by comprising a first parallax barrier (36) having a plurality of slits which extend in the second direction and each of which is aligned with a respective group of N columns of picture elements (2, 3, 4). A display as claimed in claim 9 or 10, characterised by comprising a second lenticular screen (32) having a plurality of elongate cylindrically converging lenses which extend in the second direction and each of which is aligned with a respective column of said picture elements (2, 3, 4). A display as claimed in claim 9 or 10, characterised by comprising a second parallax barrier (35) having a plurality of slits which extend in the second direction and each of which is aligned with a respective column of picture elements (2, 3, 4).

Inventors: EZRA DAVID, WOODGATE GRAHAM JOHN, EZRA, DAVID, WOODGATE, GRAHAM JOHN
Applicants: SHARP KK, SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1994
Main classification: H04N13
IPC codes: G02F1, H04N13, G02B27, G03B35